tl;dr: CurrencyFair is ~1.7% cheaper than a traditional bank when converting a currency (saving 170€ when transferring 10,000€ + what you save on transfer fees).
I've been living in different countries for the last few years and I sometimes needed to transfer money from one currency to another.
The exchange rates offered by traditional banks being usually expensive, I've decided to look around and try other services.
I've started to use HiFX and more recently CurrencyFair. I am very happy with CurrencyFair so far: their website is both useful and very pleasant to use.
Here is a quick comparison for exchanging CAD to EUR: XE.com displays an interbank rate of 1 CAD = 0.71849 EUR (interbank rate).
If I wanted to exchange 10,000 CAD to EUR today I would receive:
- C$10,000 = 6,955€ using a bank (TD Canada Trust): 1 CAD = 0.6976 EUR + 30 CAD transfer fee.
- C$10,000 = 7,040€ using HiFX: 1 CAD = 0.7040 EUR + no transfer fee (save 85€ compared to a bank).
- C$10,000 = 7,143€ using CurrencyFair: 1 CAD = 0.7146 EUR + 3€ transfer fee (save 188€ compared to a bank).
Why is it so cheap? Instead of exchanging currencies through the banks, they will directly send the CAD you are selling to someone that wants to buy CAD, and they will send you EUR from someone that wants to sell EUR. As a result, the exchange rate they offer is very close to the interbank exchange rate.
Note: This is NOT a sponsored post and I don't have any personal interest in CurrencyFair. I didn't even include my referral code as I am only interested in helping other travelers.
